Chapter 5: Stoick and the Monstrous Nightmare

Berk

February 29

Hookfang kept his wings wrapped tightly around his mother, Slaswing's breast similar to how an infant bat hung onto its mother. He also began to fidget a little. He had been keeping still and clinging to his mother ever since they left their nest (also their Queen's nest) and he was starting to become restless.

"Keep still," his mother advised. "We're almost there."

Hookfang opened his big yellow eyes and looked around. He let out a happy growl as he saw that they were coming closer and closer to the humans' island. Then he tried to look past his mother's wide waist to see if the other Monstrous Nightmare family that was accompanying them was still close behind.

Sure enough, he caught a glimpse of the old, green patriarch as he led his violet mate and their two offspring. The son was green like his father and the daughter was gold in color. The two offspring were a few years older than Hookfang. He was only a few months old but he had grown just slightly bigger since the time of his birth. Still, he couldn't wait for the time until he'd be as big as his mother.

Before long, the five adult Monstrous Nightmares landed near the edge of a rocky slope at the edge of the forest. Hookfang unlatched himself from Slashwing's breast and landed on his two feet. Crawling on the clawed tips of his wings, the young red Monstrous Nightmare looked down at the bottom of the rocky slope. Then he looked over at a pile of rocks sitting close to the rocky edge. It was a small pile of course but there were enough rocks to make one of the Gronckles back at the nest happy.

Then he looked back down towards the bottom. With a squeal, he pushed himself off the edge and, keeping his clawed wings and feet planted firmly on the rocky floor so he wouldn't tumble, slid down the slope all the way to the bottom. As he slid, he scattered a few pebbles on the way down.

"Come back up here and stay close!" Slashwing called from the top.

Hookfang nodded as he climbed his way back up to the top but he felt confident he wouldn't lose track of Slashwing. Even in the darkest of nights, her fiery red scales glittered vibrantly. Hookfang felt proud to have inherited his mother's scale color. In fact, he was a proud dragon in general. Being a Monstrous Nightmare, he believed his kind was the bravest, strongest, fiercest and handsome of all the dragons in the world.

Back when his father was alive, he would gloat, "We are the best kind of dragon there is!"

He felt like saying it now.

"We are the best kind of dragon there is!" he screeched once he got to the top.

Slashwing shook her head good-naturedly.

"You're so like your father," she purred wistfully.

"My family and I are going to go hunt over there," the old green Monstrous Nightmare announced. He turned to his mate and offspring and tilted his head in the direction of the forest, urging them to follow him.

Hookfang and Slashwing nodded as they watched their four accompaniments crawled off through the trees. Then Slashwing turned to her young son.

"Come along, son," she urged, tilting her head in the opposite direction. "I hear a stream nearby. We're sure to find lots of fish in it. Now that the Queen won't need another feeding for quite some time, we can eat for ourselves at last."

Hookfang nodded and trotted after his mother. But as hungry as he was, he didn't feel like hunting for fish. He wanted to play. Keeping close behind Slashwing, he swiped at the slushy snow with his long spiked tail and looked around for something to chase and pester.

Unfortunately it was too early in the year for some of the more fascinating creatures like groundhogs, gophers, rabbits and butterflies to come out and this irritated Hookfang greatly. Surely there must be a few birds in the trees or maybe even a few field mice poking their heads out of their homes from within the snowy, muddy ground.

Then two sounds reached his ears. The first sound was the trickling sound of water from the stream he and Slashwing were approaching. The second sound was coming from up in the trees – a kind of chittering noise. Hookfang recognized it as squirrels. Looking up, to his luck, there were three of the small, busy-tailed creatures chasing each other on the bare branches. He turned back to his mother who stood over the stream, keeping her eyes fixed on the running water for any signs of fish that she could catch for the two of them. Looking back up at the squirrels in the trees, he stood up and flapped his wings, lifting himself up towards the branches.

"Don't go too far," Slashwing called after him. "Come and help me."

Hookfang ignored his mother and he could hear her groans of frustration as he flapped higher and higher. Slashwing was used to his disobedience and pranks though she still wished he could be more sensible and dutiful. But Hookfang liked being who he was and he was going to stay who he was. Nobody was ever going to convince him otherwise.

Soon, he was high enough to be face to face with the startled squirrels. Squirrels were not part of a Monstrous Nightmare diet but they were still fun to chase. And besides, he needed the practice if he was ever going to chase and bother the humans who dwelled on this island once he was big enough. He craned his long neck and snapped his crocodile-like jaws at the three squirrels as they leapt from branch to branch in order to get away from him.

Before he could flap after them, Slashwing called again, "Come down and eat your fish!"

Hookfang looked back down towards his mother and growled happily. He couldn't resist the idea of turning down fish. So he made his way back down to her. The squirrels could wait. Plus that spot his mother was carrying the fish looked safe enough. It was dense with thick, large, snow-frosted ferns and it was a little ways from the rocky slope. No one could find them there.

Or so he thought.

…..

Stoick led his party which consisted of Gobber, Spitelout, Ack and Rockhands through the woods down the path that led to Hrungnir's Slope. Each man carried a different weapon: Stoick – an axe, Gobber – a club attached to his stumpy left arm, Spitelout – a mace, Rockhands – a spear and Ack – a sword. Keeping himself in front of the others, Stoick kept his eyes and ears open for any sudden movements or the familiar growls of Monstrous Nightmares. Suddenly, he heard some rustling nearby.

"Shh!" he hissed, holding up hand to gesture for his men to stop.

Luckily, there was a boulder just a few feet ahead of them. Turning to his men, he pointed to the rock and all five of them approached it and crouched down. Peeking over the top of the rock, Stoick saw four adult Monstrous Nightmares – two green ones, a violet one and a gold one all stalking their way through the trees very far from them. Although they were far, Stoick could see that their backs were turned to them. This would make it easier for his party to charge.

It was then he realized that there were only four Monstrous Nightmares a little ways from them. Didn't Rockhands mention there were five? If so, where was the fifth one?

"There they are," Spitelout whispered with a sadistic smile. "All right, let's get 'em."

He was just starting to come out from behind the rock when Stoick grabbed his arm.

"Wait," Stoick said firmly.

"Oh, what is it, Stoick?" Spitelout asked impatiently. "We've got to drive out those intruders. Isn't that what we came all the way out here for?"

"Of course it is," Stoick said, nodding.

"So, what's the holdup?" Spitelout asked, still impatient.

"I only see four Monstrous Nightmares," Stoick pointed out. "Didn't you say there were five, Rockhands?"

Rockhands nodded. "Aye, I did."

"Then where is the fifth Nightmare?" Gobber questioned.

"That's the question," Stoick said.

Stoick was soon drawn away from his thoughts by a rustling sound from up above.

"You hear that?"

"It's coming from up in the trees," Ack pointed out.

"Prepare yourselves, men," Stoick ordered, stepping in front of his party and gripping his axe tightly.

Behind him, the men also held out their weapons, ready for action. Stoick narrowed his eyes up at the trees waiting for whatever was making its way through the bare branches. He eventually heard something but it wasn't deep, guttural growls. It was a small, high-pitched chittering noise. Something was hopping through the branches all right but it was something small with long, bushy tails.

Squirrels!

"Ah, it's just a bunch of crazy old squirrels," Gobber said.

The other men murmured in agreement minus Stoick who still looked suspicious.

"Well, Stoick, now can we show those beasts over there how we deal with trespassers?" Spitelout asked exasperatedly.

"You men take care of them, I'm heading over there," Stoick said pointing to the direction the squirrels had come from.

"Whatever for, Chief?" Gobber asked.

"Squirrels don't act like that for nothing," the Chief replied. "I've a feeling they might've been scared off by something. Probably that fifth Monstrous Nightmare you saw, Rockhands."

"Probably," Rockhands replied.

"Well, in any case, I'm going to check it out," Stoick said, turning towards the squirrels' direction and breaking into a jog.

"Be careful, Stoick!" Gobber called after him.

I know what I'm doing, Stoick thought to himself.

Still jogging, he looked around for any creature that might've scared the three squirrels away. Finally, he stopped in front of a grove of ferns, coated with late winter frost. The ferns were large making it difficult for him to see straight ahead of them. But he could easily here the faint but audible sounds of greedy, gluttonous growls.

He had a distinct feeling what could be within those ferns. And just to make sure he was right, he lifted his axe, swung his arm and threw it over the thick wall of ferns. He threw it pretty far. After about a second, he heard the axe thud followed by the sound of a surprised shriek. Then he began making his way through the large plants.

…

Hookfang stood in front of his mother as she laid out their pile of fish in between them. Then they quickly began to help themselves hungrily. Hookfang closed his eyes happily as he gobbled up his half of the pile. While she gobbled just as greedily, Slashwing's yellow eyes were full of love and pride for her son.

Suddenly, something flew right over their heads and slammed against the tree beside them. Hookfang jumped back in surprise while Slashwing let out a surprised shriek.

Hookfang looked up at what had hit the tree. It looked like a long stick with a reflective, sharp material on either side of it. What was that thing and where did it come from?

Just then, he heard rustling in the grove of tall ferns. Hookfang went rigid with horror. Whatever or whoever had thrown this shiny stick at him and his mother was coming their way!

Slashwing nudged her son and screeched frantically, "Go! Fly back to the nest! I'll distract them!"

Hookfang knew that this time he had to obey. Quickly, he crawled speedily opposite of the streams. Once he decided he was far enough, Hookfang took flight up into the night sky, over the trees. He had to get back to the nest!

…..

Slashwing watched as her young son sprint beside the stream before taking off into the air. He was getting away far enough. Whoever threw the shiny stick at them would not be able to see him now.

Slashwing stayed where she was and turned to the grove of ferns and listened as the rustling was growing louder and louder. She was ready to face her attacker.

…..

Stoick pulled back the last of the ferns and cried out, "Aha! I knew it!"

Standing just a little ways in front of him was a large, angry looking Monstrous Nightmare with glaring yellow eyes and red scales. His axe was stuck in the trunk of the tree right beside the dragon.

The red Monstrous Nightmare lowered itself as if to pounce at him but instead it zipped right past him. Keeping his head turned to the beast, Stoick ran to the tree and pulled his axe out. Then he gave chase.

The Nightmare crawled speedily towards the edge of Hrungrir's Slope and Stoick ran after it. Finally, once it got near to the rocky edge, the Nightmare stopped and turned to face him. Stoick and the dragon circled around each other slowly and threateningly, not taking their eyes off each other.

Finally, Stoick charged at the dragon with a yell. Then suddenly, the dragon lifted its spiked tail and slammed it into his chest. It wasn't a very hard slamming but it still had enough force to knock him down.

"AH!" Stoick yelled as landed on his back against the ground.

His chest felt sore now but nothing felt broken. Anyway, he wouldn't let this stop him. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted to the sight of the Monstrous Nightmare glaring down at him. Sitting up rapidly, he swung his axe at the creature's shoulder and successfully left a small nick. The Monstrous Nightmare threw its head back, howling in pain.

"Ha ha!" Stoick laughed, smiling triumphantly.

…

Slashwing stared in shock at the small but painful nick the hairy man's shiny stick left on her shoulder. She didn't personally mind any human wounding her. But suppose this man had done this to her son. Why the very thought of it was making her blood slowly with rage.

Snarling at the man, she swung her tail at him again but this time he dodged. Again she swung her tail, this time right at his feet. He jumped again. The more she swung, the more closer she was having him step towards the slope.

Finally, she swung her tail again, this time at a pile of small rocks right at him. One of the rocks struck the man on the leg and this caused him to slip off the edge of the slope and go tumbling down to the bottom. She stood at the edge, looking down. None of those rocks had hit him on the head or arms on the way down but a good few had landed on his back feet, pinning them down.

Now she had him trapped. Igniting her body from head to toe with dancing golden flames, she began crawling down the slope.

…

Groaning, Stoick lifted his head and looked around. Hrungrir's Slope was thankfully not steep but the tumbling down along with those small rocks still left his body aching.

Looking up, he saw the red Monstrous Nightmare staring down at him from the top. Then golden flames ignited all over its body from head to toe and now it was slowly crawling down, making its way toward him.

Stoick looked around for his axe. He had to find it before that flaming dragon would get closer to him. Finally, he spotted it, lying just several feet beyond his reach. And his helmet which had fallen off from his fall was lying right beside his axe.

He began to lift himself up to stand up and run towards the axe when he was brought back down again. It was then he realized that something hard was pinning his feet to the ground. Looking over his shoulder, he saw some small rocks from the pile the dragon swung its tail at him were on top of his feet preventing him from getting up.

Stoick tried to pull his feet out from under the rocks but it was much too difficult. Finally, he reached out a hand and tried to push them off his feet. He was usually good at pushing heavy rocks but these rocks would not budge and he was much too exhausted and sore from the fight and fall to push them off any farther.

As the flaming dragon made its way to the ground at the bottom of the slope, Stoick felt his heart sink. There was no way he was going to free his feet from the rocks and grab his axe in time. He was trapped and this dragon was getting ready to finish him off. Again the image of a flaming Viking ship flashed into his mind but this time it was carrying a different body. It was carrying his own body. Although it broke his heart, he still felt some pride and dignity. If he was going to die now, at least he would die a death any hero and leader would be willing to endure.

At the same time, he tried to think of something. If he couldn't reach his axe, there must be another way to deal with this dragon. But what? All that there was around him were the small rocks that that tumbled down along with him down the slope along with some small, slushy piles of snow.

Snow!

Suddenly, Stoick remembered the snowball fight he and Valka had earlier that morning. And he also remembered that snow was merely frozen water. And water could douse fire!

Quickly, Stoick dug his hands into the cold, slushy snow pile and fashioned a good-sized snowball. He thrust it at the Nightmare just as it opened its mouth either to bite his head off or release a stream of its gel-like flames at him. The snowball landed in the creature's mouth and it let out a surprised growl.

Happy that the plan was working, Stoick made another snowball and threw it against the Nightmare's head. The flames around its body instantly extinguished as it shook its head uncomfortably. Stoick kept making more snowballs and threw it at the annoyed dragon. But the pile was getting smaller and smaller and he knew that the dragon wouldn't let itself be doused for long.

Suddenly, another snowball landed on top of the dragons head but it wasn't one of Stoick's. It had come from up above. Stoick looked up at the top of the slope and smiled at what he saw: Gobber and Rockhands were standing at the top and they too were making and throwing snowballs at the red dragon. Or at least Rockhands was making the snowballs while Gobber struggled with his good hand and club but at least he was helping to throw them and he was quite enjoying it.

The red Monstrous Nightmare shook its head in annoyance at the snowballs being thrown at its body. Finally having enough of all of this, it roared furiously at Gobber and Rockhands and took flight up into the air. Stoick noticed that the dragon was flying a little awkwardly on account of the wound on its shoulder from his axe.

"And don't come back!" Gobber called after the creature.

Then he and Rockhands surfed down the rocky slope. Gobber had to struggle to keep in balance on his peg leg.

"Thanks, men," Stoick rasped, still worn out from the fight.

"No problem, Chief," Gobber said kindly as he and Rockhands knelt down and picked up the rocks off of his feet.

Then the two men hoisted Stoick up by the arms and helped him stand up. Then they began to climb their way to the top of the slope. It was a little difficult though what with Gobber's peg leg and Stoick's limping but the three men made it all the way to the top.

"Did you take care of the other Nightmares?" Stoick asked groggily as his comrades helped him through the woods.

"Three of them got away but one of the green ones stayed behind," Rockhands explained.

"Ha, you should've seen the way Spitelout clobbered it with his mace," Gobber chuckled proudly. "Thanks to him, we have one less Nightmare to steal us out of house and home us now."

"Make sure you have its body disposed of," Stoick managed to say before he exhaled heavily in exhaustion.

"Spitelout and Ack are taking care of that right now," Gobber assured him. "I figured you'd want to give us that order so I took the liberty of giving it for you."

"Thank…you…Gobber," Stoick breathed, his vision blurring.

"Don't speak anymore, old friend," Gobber advised. "Just take it easy. We're almost to your house and then you can rest all you want."

Stoick liked the sound of that but he almost felt like resting now. Still limping in between Gobber and Rockhands, he bowed his head and closed his eyes and allowed the pitch blackness to swallow him up.

…

Dragons Nest

February 29

Hookfang lay on the pebbled beach of the island he was born and raised on. He craned his neck up at the sky, looking out for any signs of his mother. But there was none.

The sound of sorrowful roars drew him away from the sky. Not far from him, three of the adult Nightmares that had accompanied him and Slashwing were standing together. The green son and the gold daughter nuzzled their sorrowful violet-colored mother comfortingly. Like Slashwing, the old green Nightmare – the husband of the violet female and father of the two young ones had not returned. Most likely, he was killed by the humans from that island.

The green son growled in anger. "Those humans will pay for what they did to our father."

The gold daughter nodded in agreement. "That's right, Mother. We'll show those humans."

Hookfang could feel their anger. If those humans had done anything horrible to his mother as well, then he would someday take his revenge on the humans just like those two.

Just then, a soft, rumbling emitted from within the tall mountain in the center of the island and Hookfang fearfully curled himself up in fetal position. Those deep growls were coming from the Queen of the Nest. That Queen was the reason the dragons occasionally went looking for food at the human's island.

Whenever she would get hungry, she forced the thousands of dragons – Monstrous Nightmares, Gronckles, Deadly Nadders and Hideous Zipplebacks to go out hunting for food and bring it back to her so that they could avoid being eaten by her. But this didn't stop her from trying to have a taste of her slaves.

And one of the slaves she had tasted had been Hookfang's father. He had only known his father for three weeks after he had hatched. He was green-blue in color and like his son, he was proud, fearless, had no intention of following rules and quite fond of pranks. And like any father, he was willing to protect his family at all costs.

And one day he succeeded.

One night when the Queen snapped at the dragon herds inside the nest, Hookfang's father had urged his mate to carry their son to safety and flew towards the Queen, disappearing into her giant, gaping mouth along with other unlucky dragons she had caught.

Sometimes Hookfang wished he and his mother would leave this horrible place forever but they both knew why he couldn't leave. The Queen always threatened that if the dragons ever abandoned their home permanently – never to return or serve her again, she would break free out of the mountain, hunt down every last dragon there was and finish them all off. So far so good, she still remained in her place inside the mountain and left all the dragon herds alone. But they still remained her slaves and they still had to gather enough food for her if they wanted to remain left alone.

Hookfang lifted his head and looked around at all the other dragons that surrounded him on the beach. There was a purple female Gronckle lying down just a few feet ahead of him. Lying right beside her were her eight offspring. Two of them were purple like her, three red ones, two green ones and single tan one. The tan baby Gronckle looked as frightened as he was and she was snuggling as close to her mother and siblings as she possibly could.

Some of the other dragons didn't seem as frightened of the Queen. A blue female Deadly Nadder was looking up at the tall, fiery mountain and hissing threateningly. The pupils of her yellow eyes were constricted and the spikes aligning her tail stood up straight. Judging by how big she was, Hookfang assumed she was a yearling.

The only dragon that seemed completely oblivious to all that was going on around them was an adolescent green Hideous Zippleback. It was running around in a circle and both of its heads were snapping at their two long tails. Hookfang snorted in disgust of how that two-headed beast could have as much fun without worrying about the dangers they could possibly be in.

Just then the familiar scent of his mother filled his nostrils. Looking up, he saw Slashwing's red-scaled body heading towards the nest.

"Mama!" he called out.

"Son?" she called back.

"Down here!" Hookfang called again.

Slashwing flew down rather awkwardly and landed beside him. Hookfang rubbed his head against her warm, cream-colored chest.

"Why aren't you inside the nest?" she asked, eyeing him sternly.

"I didn't want to go back in without you," Hookfang answered apologetically. "Not with…her still in there."

Slashwing's eyes widened with sympathy and surprise and she looked up at the fiery mountain. Looking back down at her son, she purred softly.

"We don't have to sleep in there. We'll be just as comfortable out here."

As she laid herself down on the pebbles, Hookfang cuddled up beside her and she curled her tail protectively around him.

"Mama, I know you've told me that the humans on the other island can be dangerous. But they aren't as dangerous as the Queen are they?"

Slashwing looked up at the Queen's fiery dwelling again and then back down at him again, shaking her head.

"No, they're not. But just the same, you have to be very careful around them."

She looked down at her shoulder and Hookfang noticed the small, red wound. He licked his mother's nicked shoulder and looked up at her, wrath in his yellow eyes.

"Don't worry, Mother. Someday when I'm as big as you are, I'll track down the humans that did this to you and I will make them pay."

…

I know Hookfang hadn't been named yet but I just wanted to let you readers know that the Monstrous Nightmare youngster you just met in this chapter really is Snotlout's future dragon.

P.S. I gave Slashwing her name.